Goldman Sachs Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said Wednesday that he does not expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates Thursday.
The Fed is considering raising interest rates for the first time since 2006. It will announce the decision Thursday at the end of a two-day policy meeting.
“If the decision gets made [to raise interest rates this week], it’s not because there’s a tsunami of evidence of a hardening and quickening economy, tightening of labor, acceleration of inflation,” Blankfein said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I wouldn’t do it.”
Blankfein also spoke to the Journal about the Chinese government’s handling of its economy, which he described as “ham-handed.” As the Chinese stock market took a beating this summer, the government took a variety of measures intended to stabilize things, including devaluing its currency and temporarily banning major shareholders from selling their stocks. The Wall Street pro said that the Chinese government is wise about the problems the country faces, but “it’s really hard.”
During the interview, Blankfein also spoke about U.S. politics and his opinion of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He said Trump may be winning support due to his populism and ant-establishment stance. “We’ve put together a country that lets everyone into Washington with an absolute pledge not to compromise on anything, and then Trump comes along and talks the language of dealing,” Blankfein said.
Nonetheless the executive, a Democrat, said he had a hard time imaging Trump “with his finger on the button.”